OS X “Mountain Lion” marks the end of the road for some models

A few days ago Apple launched the first developer preview of Mountain Lion and with it marks the end of the road for some Mac models. Mainly those with Intel's GMA 950 and X3100 cards inside, this includes pre-late 2008 model MacBooks.

While this could be explained by the fact that these older chipsets just aren't up to the task of running a 2012-era operating system it is more likely to be neglect by Apple. If I am able to put Windows 8 on a below average (even at purchase) laptop from 2007, what is stopping Apple from doing the same with Mountain Lion?

While the drop of support for earlier models can be explained by the outdated hardware theory, Mountain Lion doesn't not appear to add in anything technically challenging. Most changes seem to be adding features already in iOS (such as Game Centre and a notification centre,) to the PC platform and deeper iCloud integration.

The list of supported models for Mountain Lion is as follows:

• iMac (mid 2007 or later)
• MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, 2008), (13-inch, plastic, Early 2009 or later)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later), (15-inch, 2.4/2.2 GHz), (17-inch, Late 2007 or later)
• MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)
• Mac Mini (Early 2009 or later)
• Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)
• Xserve (Early 2009)

OS X “Mountain Lion” is due to be released to the public later this Summer.

Kitguru says: A cheap shot from the world's largest company, it isn't like they don't have the cash to fund operating system development for slightly older systems.

Become a Patron!